Polaris Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of ALLETE Inc (NYSE:ALE) by 99.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 475,545 shares during the quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 4,655.4% during the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 675,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,192,000 after acquiring an additional 661,063 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $6,702,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in ALLETE by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,328,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,203,000 after acquiring an additional 52,526 shares during the period. Bowling Portfolio Management LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth $2,619,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 316,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,492,000 after acquiring an additional 32,972 shares during the period. 73.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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ALE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Williams Capital raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services cut shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of ALLETE from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.75.

ALLETE Inc (NYSE ALE) opened at $69.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3,570.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.33. ALLETE Inc has a 52-week low of $64.56 and a 52-week high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.85%.

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ALLETE Company Profile

ALLETE, Inc is an energy company. The Company’s segments include Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, Inc (ALLETE Clean Energy), U.S. Water Services Holding Company (U.S. Water Services), and Corporate and Other. The Regulated Operations segment includes its regulated utilities, Minnesota Power, and Superior Water, Light and Power Company, and its investment in American Transmission Company LLC.

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